Top 15 Comedians

#6. ANGELA COBB

For up-and-comer Angela Cobb, a regular at Astoria’s Q.E.D. and one-half of the popular monthly comedy show Fun Size and Venti Present at Bailey’s Corner on the Upper East Side, becoming a comedian was something she dreamed of pursuing far before she actually stepped up on stage.

“Everyone in my family is funny in their own way and I grew up in an environment where being funny was encouraged,” she said. “So I’d always wanted to do stand-up. But it’s one of those things where in school you can do band, or you can do chorus, but there’s no stand-up club.”

The opportunity to finally test her stand-up chops before an audience presented itself while she was a student at SUNY Oneonta, when two fellow students saw her perform slam poetry and asked if she wanted to take part in a school comedy competition.

“That’s what helped me segue into stand-up,” she said.

After numerous performances in Oneonta, Cobb made the decision to pursue a comedy career full time, moving to New York City after graduation and hitting the open mic scene.

“What was good, was the first time I ever tried [an open mic] it went well enough where I was like, ‘okay I have a natural aptitude for this,’ but it also was challenging enough that I realized ‘okay, this is actually a thing, you can’t BS your way through,’” she said.

That was five years ago, and since Cobb has performed in clubs throughout the city, was a semi-finalist in the 2013 She-Devil Comedy Festival, and is a co-star on the new web series “A Hot Mess,” which just premiered on November 1.

She’s also the host of stand-up and story-telling show “My First Time,” which details people’s experiences losing their virginity and will be back for a third show by popular demand at Q.E.D. on December 16.

“I was a late bloomer and the circumstances were memorable,” she said, of inspiration for the show. “And it was during Hurricane Sandy.”